Pindar's Poetry, Patrons, and Festivals

From Archaic Greece to the Roman Empire

Simon Hornblower and Catherine Morgan

Interdisciplinary approach breaks down barriers to the understanding of the ancient world as a seamless whole

Highly topical, since this is a golden age in both Pindar studies and in the archaeology of Greek sanctuaries

Pindar's Poetry, Patrons, and Festivals

From Archaic Greece to the Roman Empire

Simon Hornblower and Catherine Morgan

Description

Ancient sport made a huge if indirect contribution to the literature of ancient Greece, since some sixty poems by Pindar and Bacchylides ('epinikian odes'), written to commemorate victories, survive from the Classical period. This book is a collection of essays about that literature, and about the social and physical context for which it was written. The editors assembled an internationally distinguished team of speakers for the original 2002 seminar series held in London, and these papers form the backbone of the book. But to ensure coherence and comprehensive coverage, they have commissioned three further papers, and have themselves written a long thematic Introduction. The result is a stellar team of authors, and a book which looks at an important literary phenomenon in light of the latest archaeological and sociological insights, as well as evaluating the poetry both as poetry and as a performance genre with distinctive characteristics.

Pindar's Poetry, Patrons, and Festivals

From Archaic Greece to the Roman Empire

Simon Hornblower and Catherine Morgan

Author Information

Simon Hornblower, Professor of Classics and Ancient History, University College London, and Catherine Morgan, Professor of Classical Archaeology, King's College London

Contributors:

Carla Antonaccio, Duke University, North CarolinaRiet van Bremen, University College LondonChris Carey, University College LondonJ. K. Davies, University of Liverpool (Emeritus)Mary Douglas, University College LondonSimon Hornblower, University College LondonStephen Instone, University College LondonN. J. Lowe, Royal Holloway, University of LondonCatherine Morgan, King's College LondonMichael Silk, King's College LondonR. R. R. Smith, Oxford UniversityTony Spawforth, University of Newcastle upon TyneRosalind Thomas, Oxford UniversityMaria Stamatopoulou, Oxford University

Pindar's Poetry, Patrons, and Festivals

From Archaic Greece to the Roman Empire

Simon Hornblower and Catherine Morgan

Reviews and Awards

"This is a rich and rewarding collection of fifteen articles about Pindar's victory odes and their social, historical, and political contexts" - A. D. Morrisson, The Classical Review

"These uniformily excellent essays will be welcomed by students of Greek and Roman athletics and culture...[a] splendid...painstakng study" - Armand D'Angour, Times Literary Supplement

"One of the most interesting volumes on Pindar to appear in recent years...The material is rich and diverse...an excellent book...it should firmly establish its place on reading lists of university courses on Greek lyric or archaic and early classical Greek cultural history. The book is very well produced and generously illustrated." - The Journal of Classics Teaching, Issue 12

"The quality of the contributions is up to the highest standards of scholarship" - Bryn Mawr Classical Review